Skillet fajitas, Skillet 911

These days I feel like a winner. I just got a cast iron skillet, and guys, it's really amazing. It grills, it sautes, it bakes. Really great.*

Potato Tacos are all the rage

 Lately I've been noticing a fun addition to the alternative-to-meat options at my favorite food places: Potatoes!At taco stands I have been sticking to soyrizo because a) I like it and b) it is something that I don't think I can make yet. But I wanted to give potatoes a fighting chance and they are easy for me to make.

Sage Rosemary Focaccia

 I have tried my hand at making many breads. Over the course of my year making various breads I have learned that I prefer to make free form loaves as opposed to bread pan, sandwich-sized loaves. I like the variation in the final product.

I also love breads to dip in sauces, oils and herbs. It was just yesterday when I realized that Focaccia might be perfect for this. A quick internet search revealed that toppings for Focaccia are only limited by imagination. I like this a lot! But I will start simple with two herbs: sage and rosemary.

Mini Bagels!

Here is a quick look at some mini everything bagels I made. Really adorable. They are more laborious than bread to make, but the end result is so pleasing. And I love anything in miniature.

 For anyone thinking about getting into the homemade bagel scene, what are you waiting for?! You can have something this cute in your kitchen too!

Meatball Subs

An easy go-to meal that I have had recently is the Meatball Sub. It's pretty basic, very fast and decidedly satisfying. Lately I've been getting a meatless alternative in the frozen aisle of my grocery outlet. I even stocked up this time around because you never know when the outlet won't have them for cheap anymore. Note: I get crazy about food reserves from the food outlet... you should see my canned goods!

My sub only has three main components: bread, meatballs, pasta sauce. Easy! Though, because I think I'm fancy, I usually make a nutritional yeast cheese sauce to add to it. I have no idea what measurements I use, but here's what always goes in the sauce: nutritional yeast, water, garlic, oil (to cook the garlic a little), salt and pepper. Other variants are: chili flakes, soy sauce, flour (to thicken). I usually cook everything until it gets warm (with a baguette sliced and put in the oven to brown) and then throw it all together.

Doorstep surprise

I stumbled into this cute little guy the other morning. He was waiting for me at my doorstep and I can only assume he came from the the lobby of my apartment. There was once a small action figure that I was very much planning on adopting (or rather, adopting on behalf of a friend) but was convinced otherwise. Perhaps it belonged to someone, right?These two make a great pair.

People will give anything away. Or maybe, people will take anything when it's free; I sure do.

Pasta Salad (with beet water)

After boiling some beets the other day I saved the dark pink water on a hunch that I could use it for something else.

The internet yields many useful and everyday ideas for beet water, most of which take advantage of the tendency of beet juice to stain anything it touches: egg dye, facial toner, hair dye, colorant for various foods, a liquid addition to soups. And there was one weird one: Faux grape jelly. Bleh.

I decided to make a pasta salad, cooking the pasta in the beet water. I thought it would be pink, but not this pink! The pasta even gained a very slight, sweet taste of beets.
What I had on hand: white onion, green onion, diced olives, pepperoncinis. I almost added some fake sausage but was really into the flavors of the raw onions and didn't want that to be overshadowed. Pasta salad always has this distinct flavor and I realized this flavor is vinegar. So I added white wine vinegar (to taste) with olive oil and salt and pepper. As a pasta salad, it is middle of the road. Visually though, I am a very happy camper.A completely non-related note to those who comment on the blog: I love it! And I want to respond to each post but I cannot, yet, figure out how. Sad. This is my blog and I don't know how to work it. Hopefully I'll make some breakthroughs soon.

Rosemary and Brown Sugar Roasted Hazelnuts

I am very excited about this post. From start to finish, this small treat is the most different thing I have tried in a long time! Hand picked (from the ground) Hazelnuts from around Portland, roasted and then glazed with this marinade I made up:





1 cup roasted Hazelnuts (it's all I had!)
<1/4 cup brown sugar ~1/8 tsp chili powder or to taste 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar a splash of white wine vinegar (probably negligible) a couple turns of ground pepper a small squeeze of lime fresh rosemary from around the corner of my apartment The marinade was thick and I added more rosemary once the glaze was on and put them back in the oven until the glaze looked bubbly and sticky. As they cooled I spread them out on parchment paper so that they didn't end up stuck together. Sugar cools like hard glue!




So that I could maximize the use of my oven, my side project was Roasted Yams in Chili Lime marinade. I made a salad of sorts adding cooked crumbled Tempeh and fresh Avocado and cilantro, recycling some lingering ingredients of recent meals.

Winter popsicle experiement

I recently acquired (found for free in the lobby of my apartment) a cute plastic Popsicle tray. How fun, right?! It is very cute and colorful and I'd love to make seasonal frozen treats with fruit and maybe veggies. Some ideas I had:

-Watermelon Basil (or mint, or lime)
-Tangerine Lime
-Cucumber Lime Chili
-Raspberry Lemon
-Strawberry Coconut


(Note: The dinosaur returns to the blog! He's had a bath since we last saw him.)


I pretty much want these all in my mouth! Unfortunately it is winter and these fruits aren't locally available unless they are shipped from distant lands and handled by many people. So I got to thinking about what I have in my home that I can use: chocolate, lime, peanut butter, almond butter, ginger, avocado (questionable for my abilities), soy milk. Well creamy chocolate ginger sounds awesome. Ginger lime is a good combo, too. Chocolate peanut/almond butter? Sure!

Let's see what happens!

The day I found a camera

I have been given hand-me-down digital cameras for years from friends and family and never use them. It's a good thing I started this blog, because now I have a use for the cameras.

For your viewing pleasure: Peanut Butter Oat cookies with a Chocolate Drizzle... and a small red dinosaur I found in the lobby of my apartment building.

The dinosaur was covered in dirt and I probably shouldn't have put in on the cookies. But, oh well, I think it's funny.